Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney & Patrick Arrasmith

Author:Joseph Delaney & Patrick Arrasmith
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Horror & Ghost Stories, Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9780060891299
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2007-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIV

The Wight

IF the guardian of the tunnel was wet and dead, then it was probably a wight and there’d certainly be water in the tunnel. I’d read about wights in the Spook’s bestiary: they were rare in the County but very dangerous. They were created by witches, who bound the soul of a drowned sailor to his dead body by dark magic. The body didn’t decay. Instead it became bloated and tremendously strong. They were usually blind, their eyes eaten by fishes, but had acute hearing and could locate a victim on dry land while still submerged.

As I was about to follow Mab, Alice gestured with her hand, signaling that I should stay back and allow her to go first. I could tell that she was planning something, but I didn’t know what. So I let her go ahead and just hoped she knew what she was doing.

We seemed to be walking for ages, but at last we began to slow before coming to a halt.

“Don’t like this,” Mab called back. “There’s water ahead. Smells bad. Don’t look safe at all . . .”

I squeezed forward next to Alice so that we could see over Mab’s shoulder. I’d expected to see running water—maybe a stream or underground river that she couldn’t cross. Instead the tunnel widened out to form an oval cave, which contained a small lake. The water almost reached the sides of the cave, but to the left was a narrow muddy path, sloping down toward the water. It looked very slippery.

The lake worried me. It was murky, the color of mud, and there were ripples on the surface; something that you’d expect on water agitated by wind. But we were underground, and the air was still and calm. I also had a feeling that the lake was very deep. Was something nasty lurking under the surface? I remembered what Mab had sniffed out—“something wet and dead.” Was it a wight, as I suspected?

“Ain’t got all night, Mab,” Alice called out cheerfully. “Don’t like the look of it much myself, so the sooner we’re past it the better!”

Looking more than a little nervous, Mab transferred the black candle to her right hand and stepped out onto the muddy path. She’d only taken a couple of steps when her bare feet began to slide. She almost lost her balance and had to put out her left hand to steady herself against the wall. The candle flickered and almost went out.

“Easy does it, girl!” Alice said, the mockery strong in her voice. “Ain’t a good idea to fall in there. Need a good pair of shoes, you do. Wouldn’t like the feel o’ that slimy mud between my toes. Make your feet stink worse than ever!”

Mab turned back toward us, and her lip curled in anger once again. She was just about to give Alice a good earful when something happened that made my heart lurch right up into my mouth.

Faster than I could blink, a big hand, pale, bloated and bloodless, came straight up out of the water and grasped Mab’s right ankle.

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